Delhi HC to hear petition filed by 34 Bollywood producers, film bodies against media trial on November 9

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Delhi High Court on Monday will hear a petition filed by four Bollywood associations and 34 producers to seek restraint on Republic TV and Times Now channels from making or publishing "irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory" remarks against the Hindi film industry and its members. The plea also sought to restrain them from conducting media trials of Bollywood personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with Bollywood. The matter is listed before the court of Justice Rajiv Shakhdar.

In the plea, the plaintiffs have specifically named Mr. Arnab Goswami and Mr Pradeep Bhandari of Republic TV, Mr. Rahul Shivshankar and Ms. Navika Kumar of Times Now as well. The Plaintiffs are also praying that the Defendants abide by the provisions of the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, and to withdraw, recall and take down all the defamatory content published by them against Bollywood.

This comes in the wake of these channels using highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “This is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

Almost all the well known names in Bollywood are represented through the Plaintiffs, including: The Producers Guild of India, The Cine & TV Artiste Association, The Film and TV Producers Council, Screenwriters Association, Aamir Khan Productions,Ad-Labs Films, Ajay Devgn Fflims, Andolan Films, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Arbaaz Khan Productions, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, BSK Network and Entertainment, Cape of Good Films, Clean Slate Filmz, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment & Motion Pictures, Excel Entertainment, Filmkraft Productions, Hope Production, Kabir Khan Films, Luv Films Macguffin Pictures, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, One India Stories, R.S. Entertainment, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reliance Big Entertainment, Reel Life Productions, Rohit Shetty Pictures, Roy Kapur Productions, Salman Khan Ventures, Sohail Khan Productions, Sikhya Entertainment, Tiger Baby Digital, Vinod Chopra Films, Vishal Bhardwaj Film, and Yash Raj Films.

The Plaintiffs are not seeking a blanket gag order against media reportage of the investigation in the cases relating to the death of Mr. Sushant Singh Rajput or of FIRs No. 15 and 16/2020 filed by the NCB, Mumbai. The Plaintiffs are merely seeking perpetual and mandatory injunction against the Defendants from carrying on reportage and publication of material that violates applicable laws.

ALSO READ: Here’s why Sanjay Leela Bhansali was not a signatory to the lawsuit against Republic TV and Times Now

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